Though I'm not sure I'm convinced, since it's a Specialized road bike and not one of the officially recognized bikes of the gentry, such as a Van Moof or a 20 year-old Cannondale in time capsule condition.

As for what the next "hot" neighborhoods are, I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say that at least one will be completely underwater within the next 10 years and the locals will resent you in pretty much all of them.

The laws, which take effect March 1, include an AU$425 fine ($307 U.S.) for cyclists who run a red light, and a AU$229 penalty ($165 U.S.) for riding without a helmet — a fine higher than most speeding violations for vehicles. In fact, only one of the new laws targets drivers, with an AU$319 fine for motorists who fail to leave a gap of at least one meter when passing a cyclist.

The essence of cycling is its accessibility, and if you can't just hop on a bike with a bare head and empty pockets every now and again without forking over a week's pay then that's tantamount to banning it altogether.

But of course it's for your safety, so that makes it okay:Bernard Carlon, executive director of the Australian government’s Centre for Road Safety, told Bloomberg that the new laws are being enacted in response to the 11 cyclists killed and 1,500 injured every year in New South Wales (where Sydney is the capital).“If one cyclist chooses to now wear a helmet because of the new penalties, we consider that a win for cyclist safety,” he said.

That has to be the stupidest fucking thing I've heard all week--and I watched the Republican debate last night.

And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz. As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer. If you're right then good, and if you're wrong you'll see FatBike SnowAttack.

Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and may you be forever free of the Foam Hat of Tyranny.

--Wildcat Rock Machine

1) During last night's Republican debate, Ted Cruz attacked Donald Trump for having promoted a bike race and called bicycles "socialism on wheels."

80 comments:

120. Efforts to make room for a sense of purpose and for autonomy within the system are no better than a joke. For example, one company, instead of having each of its employees assemble only one section of a catalogue, had each assemble a whole catalogue, and this was supposed to give them a sense of purpose and achievement. Some companies have tried to give their employees more autonomy in their work, but for practical reasons this usually can be done only to a very limited extent, and in any case employees are never given autonomy as to ultimate goals—their “autonomous” efforts can never be directed toward goals that they select personally, but only toward their employer’s goals, such as the survival and growth of the company. Any company would soon go out of business if it permitted its employees to act otherwise. Similarly, in any enterprise within a socialist system, workers must direct their efforts toward the goals of the enterprise, otherwise the enterprise will not serve its purpose as part of the system. Once again, for purely technical reasons it is not possible for most individuals or small groups to have much autonomy in industrial society. Even the small-business owner commonly has only limited autonomy. Apart from the necessity of government regulation, he is restricted by the fact that he must fit into the economic system and conform to its requirements. For instance, when someone develops a new technology, the small-business person often has to use that technology whether he wants to or not, in order to remain competitive.

My secret for the test is to scroll my cursor over the answers and see what link pops up. The different answer is the right answer. (Difficult for T/F questions. Go to the multiple choice questions first, or watch the enya video if you must).

Twice this week, on my commute to work, I have encountered an interesting individual. This person was noteworthy for two reasons: 1) they were dressed like Leonardo DiCaprio from The Revenant, complete with period correct clothes, an animal skin backpack and hair that hasn't seen a comb in decades; 2) they were really annoying.The first time I encountered this person, they sprinted past me in the middle of a bike path street crossing that has a weird kink in it on the far side, so there isn't room to pass. The second time they were ahead of me, but they insisted on circling like a shark (or beaver?) while waiting for the light but never bothered to press the button to trigger the bike path crossing signal. Probably the most amusing thing is that the whole rustic image was ruined by the fact that they were riding a bike with dick breaks. I'm pretty certain that Hugh Glass, or Davey Crocket, or whomever this person styles themselves after would have ridden a brakeless fixie...

NSW hates cyclists of course. But it also appears to be an Orwellian nanny state that doesn't *just" hate cyclists. They just passed a law that adult humans are not allowed to buy wine after 10pm http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/why-you-cant-go-to-the-bottle-shop-after-10pm/news-story/c536e2281a8a6fb47a424a5cf245fa58. Apparently it's also illegal to have a scotch on the rocks after midnight in the City of Sydney. This is why I never want to see a president Bloomberg.

...Speaking of Re-publicans, stupid things said, and cycling... Enacting such tough laws in the name of 'protecting' the cyclists themselves... it's like our publicans always saying that the tough laws they bring forth in red states that shut down abortion clinics are actually put forth for the 'safety' and 'protection' of women.

...NSW govt will never admit that they enact these laws cuz they just friggin hate cyclists... and publicans will never publicly admit that they enact laws that practically ban abortions because... well, because Jesus.

You're eating dirt cause you like getting dirt from the graveyardYou put gravy on itThen you pick your teeth with tombstone chipsCasket cover clips, dead women hips you do the bump withBones, nothing but love bonesLifestyles of the living dead, first you live then you're deadDied trying to clock what I saidNow I got a murder rap cause I bust your cap with FlavorPure Flavor

dop, I never click the links, but I do choose the correct answer before I hover over the choice and see if I'm correct. I hover over the "wrong" answer link that is before the quiz and memorize the last 3 letters of the link.

All,

I just watched the fat bike ascent of Mt. Washington video. He was "running" studded fat tires. He didn't have the traction he expected, so he stopped partially up the mountain to decrease his tire pressure. With studded tires, should he not have increased the pressure, so the studs would bite further into the ice? If the studs are not gripping, then you don't want more studs touching (and not gripping) the ice, you want less studs with more weight/stud so they penetrate the ice further and bite in. Correct?

One of the epiphanies I had in undergrad was realizing that the are of a tire that is touching the ground times the air pressure had to equal the weight on that tire.

Well I studied for the quiz but didn't realize I needed to watch last night's Republican candidate "debate" (why it's called a debate if one person asks different questions of the different candidates is debatable). I wrongly guessed true, figuring it was some kind of trick question. And I don't recall the London bike theft scam being in this week's blog either.

But I accept my score and vow to improve over the rest of the semester.

You know, in this high-traffic, high-interruption, loud-ass distracting shitty open office plan I work in, people are always walking in to see me or someone near me, and I just realized that I am in a constant state of "Great, who's this asshole?"

Ted Cruz really said that bikes are "socialism on wheels"? Obviously, that makes Ted Cruz fascism on legs; and idiocy on legs, and lunacy on legs, and douchery on legs, and demagoguery on legs, and autocracy on legs, and a calamity on legs.

Picked up by the broom wagon, as per usual. A fine week of posts; much obliged. But no fair asking about London ruffians, rapscallions and hooligans stealing push bieks in Shaftesbury. Interesting story, though I refuse to believe there is any dosh to be made from nicking old Raleighs. Bromptons maybe, but only a neophyte Bromptoliad would lock it outside (n00b!). Those anus-clenchers in NSFW should take a field trip to Paris, and get a load of how cyclists there handle traffic. Short answer: They don't give a le fuck. Nobody else does either, and thus a glorious cavalcade of near-misses and finger-based miscommunication proceeds. The police? Couldn't care less, if there ain't blood. People all over need to chill out. I will give Robot Thaddeus some attention, since its warped circuits so crave it. The manifest author makes one thing very clear, though not in plain words: He didn't want to work. That's all folks.

Mmm, gotta love the businessbro who's going to take over and "define the space" of bicycling by selling shitty bike-shaped objects direct from China online. Sorry, brobeans, BikesDirect got there first.

Wildcat, you mentioned that you liked your new flotilla because it was heavier, therefore harder to steal, and better able to withstand the weather. You have also mentioned that you have an excess number of human children. I think you should have kept the big dummy, armed your children with umbrellas and guns and given them round-the-clock guard duty. With 18 children, you could easily have nine teams of two working three hour shifts. Or you could have gotten a pair of pet crocodiles and tied one to each wide loader if you children were too whiny or you had trouble obtaining firearms that are properly sized for really small hands.

Last week the police were handing out fines for not having a bell and riding in bike lanes which weren't actually there.

Another law change is to make speeding offences the same for bicycles and cars. Many of the bike paths have a speed limit of 10km/h (6 mph) so expect cyclists to be fined $112 if they ride at 7mph or $260 if they ride over 12 mph.

A ride in the park with no bell, no helmet, no id, over 6mph will cost at least AU$639 ($460 U.S.) but the NSW government says they are aiming to double cycling by 2020 - bunch of lying fat fucking troglodyte assholes.

"That has to be the stupidest fucking thing I've heard all week--and I watched the Republican debate last night."What can I say? Usually I'm proud to be Australian, not from NSW thankfully, but on this I hang my head in disbelief. Traffic is congested, public transport is congested, people are getting more and more unhealthy, car parking is limited and expensive, and they put people off cycling.

A commercial where Tom Boonen rides his bike stationary while it is hooked up to a juicer. He produces nearly a pint of juice in a one-minute interval. It shows the juice trickling from the juicer into the bottle, but it certainly looks more like piss than juice.

Then the final shot is Tom taking a big swill of what appears to be his own piss.

It is reported that the bike/juicer will be present at the spring Belgium Classics, where you can try to beat Tom's output.

It's so obvious why the tires on the fat bike needed to be slightly deflated during the Mt. Washington ascent, as one increases the elevation there is a corresponding decrease in atmospheric pressure, ergo the tires grow firmer as one goes higher, requiring the aforesaid adjustments.

I was sittin' on the shitter doin' some thinkin' an what I thought is that if a guy was to put fat training wheels on a fat bike then you could go real slow up a bitchin' hill an' not have to worry about fallin' over, also you could ride back from the bar real drunk an' not worry about fallin' over too!

@Persia, Really? Bicycle Network Victoria were one of the bunch of asshats at the NSW govt round table which lent legitimacy to these new laws. Bicycle Network Victoria are the asshats who have lobbied again and again for increased fines in Victoria. If you think Melbourne has got cycling sorted you are living in dream land - you should go to a proper city where cycling is actively encouraged and where the bike share actually works. Not Melbourne or any city in Australia which are the poster children for all that is wrong with Mandatory Helmet Laws.

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About Me

While I love cycling and embrace it in all its forms, I'm also extremely critical. So I present to you my venting for your amusement and betterment. No offense meant to the critiqued. Always keep riding!